To coincide with the British Lung Foundation Love Your Lungs week initiative, Alex Minett of CHAS, looks at how employers can look after workers’ lungs by preventing harm from silica dust.
Silica dust is considered to be the greatest risk to construction and demolition workers’ health after asbestos.
Silica dust exposure has been linked to 4,000 deaths a year from Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – a group of lung diseases that includes bronchitis and emphysema; while estimates suggest 500 UK construction workers die each year from Silicosis – a form of lung disease caused by inhaling large amounts of crystalline silica dust. What’s more, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has listed COPD and Silicosis as diseases that increase the risk of severe COVID-19 illness.
Silica dust is a natural substance present in materials that construction and demolition workers encounter daily through bricks, tiles, concrete, and mortar. Cutting, sanding and grinding these materials releases Respirable Crystalline Silica (RCS) that is so fine it can reach deep inside the lungs and cause significant harm to health. RCS particles are at least 100 times smaller than a grain of sand.. Consequently it can be easy to underestimate the risks. The workplace exposure limit for RCS is just 0.1mg over eight hours – the equivalent of a small pinch of salt.
Although rare, exposure to an extremely large amount of RCS, in a short time period can cause Acute Silicosis, an aggressive form of Silicosis that can lead to death within weeks or months. In the short term, exposure to silica dust can also exacerbate underlying health conditions such as asthma.
Long-term exposure to RCS can cause lung cancer and other serious respiratory diseases. As mentioned previously, silica dust is also linked to serious lung diseases including Silicosis that can cause severe breathing problems and increases the risk of lung infections and COPD. Importantly, it doesn’t take much dust to do damage. Even tiny amounts of RCS can cause long-term damage, particularly over prolonged periods of exposure.
As with all hazards, it’s preferable to limit the amount of dust you create before considering control methods.
Where it’s not possible to eliminate dust, consider other measures to control and reduce the dangers, such as planning work to keep cutting and preparation to a minimum or opting for a less powerful tool.
Silica dust should also be controlled at source to prevent it from becoming air bound by choosing tools with effective dust extraction (Class M or H rated extractors are recommended) and using methods such as wet cutting and wet sweeping, though these must be carried out effectively to have an impact.
PPE should always be the last line of defence; but where it is necessary, be careful to choose the most appropriate respiratory protective equipment (RPE). This is especially important given the current widespread availability of COVD-19 masks that are unlikely to provide sufficient protection against silica dust. Similarly, nuisance-grade dust masks do not protect the lungs. Look for a dust mask with an assigned protection factor of 20. Use either FFP3 filtering face-pieces or orinasal respirators with P3 filters. Fit testing is also essential to ensure any equipment selected is suitable for the wearer. It is a legal requirement for workers using tight fitting respiratory protective equipment to be fit tested by a competent person as explained in CoSHH regulations. User training on how to wear and care for RPE is also important.
